The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

The Fates are tired of watching it. There is a storm coming, and if they want to survive... so they force them to read what they're actions are doing to themselves and their children. And they pull Percy and a few others along for the ride.

35. Accepting Gifts from Strangers

Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.

Normal talking, telepathy

Sadly, I do not and probably never will own Percy Jackson and associates. I really, really wish I did, though.

---

"He's not seriously blaming you for the birds attacking!" Sally burst out, not at all happy.

"Unfortunately." Percy grumbled.

"I think he would have punished you for breathing if he could get away with it." Clarisse shuddered. For some reason Tantalus had it out for Percy.

"That was the chapter." Paul announced, frowning at the book in his hands. The more he learned about his step-sons' world, the more he wanted to wrap them all up in cotton-wool and lock them away somewhere safe. They weren't even safe in their own camp anymore, the one place they were supposed to be safe.

"I will read next!" Hermes announced suddenly. He got a few raised eyebrows, but nobody protested, which he took to be consent.

Chapter seven: I Accept Gifts from a Stranger

"Percy, I thought we talked about this!" Sally groaned, getting surprised and curious looks from the rest of the readers.

"That title is very misleading." Percy said, swallowing and eyeing his mother. "He was a stranger, yes, but I knew who he was." Surprisingly, that actually made sense to the crowd in the room, especially the demigods. Before this reading, they would have said they knew who the gods were, but they didn't know any of them. Not even their own parent in many cases.

"That's not very reassuring." Paul muttered, eyeing his step-son.

"Is there a story behind this?" Poseidon asked, looking between Percy and Sally. He didn't watch them every second after all, he just looked in from time to time.

"Nope!" Percy said at once, smiling innocently. Sally groaned again and gave Poseidon a look that promised she would tell him later. Annabeth raised an eyebrow, curious herself.

(The way Tantalus... bad chariot driving.)

"Bad chariot driving? That's his reasoning for a monster attack?" Chiron demanded angrily. Not only was this murderer trying to destroy his camp, but now he was using two of his students as his whipping boy and girl!

"This is Tantalus we're talking about. I'm just lucky he wasn't trying to blame me for his 'food problems'." Percy rolled his eyes, not too concerned over it.

"He latched onto Percy from the start." Annabeth agreed with a grimace, almost repeating what Clarisse just said. Tyson looked at them, he knew Tantalus didn't like Percy for some reason, but he didn't know what he could have done about it.

(This was so completely... help his mood.)

"No, but it improved ours!" Clarisse said through her laughter. Hermes had barely been able to finish the sentence through his own laughter, while the demigods were torn between incredulity that he said that, and hilarity.

Annabeth sighed. "I wondered why we were put in the kitchens." She grumbled. She hadn't heard Percy tell him that, after all.

Sally blinked for a moment while she processed that, then she just groaned and slammed her head into her hands.

(He sentenced us... cleaning harpies.)

Nearly all the younger crowd winced. "Oh, man. Of all the punishments..." Travis winced. KP was the most hated chore at camp, purely because of how the harpies washed and did things. And the harpies were not always quiet, either. If they had something to say about what they thought of your presence, they would say it.

"What's so bad about that? That's one of the lesser punishments for us." Reyna said, confused.

"You'll see." Jason said with a wince. At least the Romans washed with water.

(The harpies... instead of water,)

Reyna's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"That does not sound safe." Sally muttered, eyes narrowed.

"It's perfectly safe." Chiron assured the mother.

(to get that extra... of all germs,)

"I think that would kill more then ninety-nine point nine percent." Paul said dryly, blinking in surprise. That... could not be safe, no matter what Chiron said.

"Wouldn't the lava melt everything?" Sally asked herself, tilting her head. Like her husband, she wasn't too sure about how safe that was.

"Our dishes are specially made." Chiron shrugged, not really caring.

(so Annabeth... gloves and aprons.)

"Those aren't really safe, either." Sally frowned. "That can cause cancer." She looked concerned. Asbestos was turning out to cause just as many long term health problems as lead was, after all.

"That's the dust that comes off it." Apollo corrected. "And their nature as demigods means they won't get cancer." He assured the mother. There were so many downsides to being a demigod, there had to be some benefits.

"Really?" Sally asked, interested and somewhat relieved. That was one less thing she had to worry about with her son, although it hadn't really been something she'd ever considered before, not for her son.

"Yeah, it's the godly blood, it doesn't allow for things like that." Will confirmed.

(Tyson didn't mind.)

"I was really jealous." Percy said matter-of-factly. He'd had to be super careful that he didn't splash himself, and Tyson just dove right in.

"And just think, you probably had a better time of it than Annabeth, even." Poseidon pointed out. "You have the sea in your blood, it protects you from burns and heat."

"Oh yeah..." Percy muttered, looking at Annabeth in concern. The harpies were good enough to make sure any demigod on KP was well hydrated, but... it was still hot in there, and it took them hours to get through all those dishes.

She shrugged. "I was so focused on our conversation, I didn't even notice." She admitted. Although she'd been attacked with water bottles by her siblings when she got back, she'd even been allowed in the shower first that night because of it, although that might have been because they didn't want to have to smell her sweaty self any longer then they had to.

(He plunged his... of extra plates.)

"Extra plates? What need would there be for extra plates, it's not a special event night." Chiron frowned, wondering what Tantalus had done to punish them further.

(Tantalus had ordered... death-bird.)

"Hold on, just how many birds didn't dust?" Leo demanded.

"Enough for a feast." Clarisse shrugged.

"A large one." Percy grumbled, shuddering at the memory of all those plates and silverware.

Chiron made a face, but didn't say anything. He'd never thrown a victory celebration for the first race of the summer, but it was a valid reason. And Stymphalian bird did taste very good, if cooked properly, so he knew the children would be eating well at least.

"Oh, that sounds so good." Rachel groaned, leaning back.

"Eating monster birds?" Sally asked, unsure about that one.

"They're actually quite good. Tasted a little like pork, actually, not chicken like you would expect." Percy shrugged.

(The only good thing... common enemy)

"You mean you didn't already see him as an enemy?" Travis deadpanned. Percy shrugged while Annabeth sighed.

"We were already planning our prank war." Connor added, shrugging.

"Do not do anything to antagonize him." Hermes told his sons sternly, inwardly cringing at the thought of what Tantalus might do to them if he caught them. Thankfully Percy and Annabeth's punishment was fairly mild compared with what he knew Tantalus was capable of.

The Stolls made a face. "The others stopped our plans." They groused. Katie nodded in agreement, looking at them just as sternly as Hermes was, to everybody else's surprise.

(and lots of time... to believe me.)

"Well, yeah, the fact you were still telling me the same thing meant that you were serious and not just trying to distract me from the race." Annabeth sighed, running a hand through her hair, angry with herself for not taking him seriously in the first place.

"That hurts." Grover deadpanned, looking at her.

"Thank you!" Percy exclaimed. It honestly had hurt that she could have thought he would lie about something like this.

"Sorry." She apologized.

("If he's really... retrieve it-")

"You might want to explain what you're thinking right now." Piper said, narrowing her eyes. She had an idea of what Annabeth might be thinking, but she was doing that thing where she didn't explain again. There was only one thing she could think of from her and her dad's research that could possibly save the valley now.

"Except that it's been lost for centuries." Grover muttered, frowning. He thought he had an idea of what Annabeth was talking about, too, but he wasn't sure. The futures heard him and glanced at each other, knowing that wasn't quite true.

"If you're talking about what I think you are, that would be the only thing that could possibly save camp now." Hermes muttered, frowning.

Privately, several of the council were thinking that she was too much like her mother sometimes.

("Hold on," I said... skin a ram?")

"Very, very messy?" Leo chimed in while everyone else groaned. Would it kill her to give a straight answer?

She groaned and face-palmed. "Boys." She muttered.

"See? He gets it." Percy pointed at Leo, looking at Annabeth.

"Well, that wasn't much of a hint." Piper muttered when Annabeth looked to her for help. You would get messy, after all.

("Messy?")

Sally sighed. "Annabeth, I thought you knew by now that you have to just tell him straight up, or he'll never get it." She shook her head at her sons girlfriend, ignoring Percy's protests.

"It's the same with all men." Aphrodite cut in with a smirk, ignoring the men's protests.

(She sighed. "A... have golden wool-")

"The Golden Fleece." Beckendorf grunted thoughtfully. "That would work." He said.

"But it's been missing for centuries." Clarisse reminded him.

"What was lost will always be found." Chiron said, tilting his head as he looked at Thalia. That did explain it.

"They don't have a lot of time, though." Theseus commented, frowning. "That poison is strong and moving fast."

("The Golden Fleece... the thing you seek.)

"They were talking about the Fleece?" Reyna muttered. "Makes sense, if they're really Oracles."

"They could have been more willing to tell us, though." Percy rolled his eyes.

"They probably knew what Luke wanted it for." Annabeth sighed. Thankfully they managed to stop that plan before it happened, without even really trying.

(And they mentioned... the Golden Fleece.)

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Clarisse muttered.

"That was an interesting trip." Theseus muttered. He wasn't on that trip, he'd been on a quest at the time and unable to go when Jason asked, but he'd heard all about it from Heracles. Perseus patted him on the back in commiseration. It seemed that everything that could possibly go wrong on that trip had gone wrong. He was amazed they made it at all, and without losing too many people.

"Is it really lost if they knew the entire time where it was?" Piper asked.

"Hmm... yeah. Even if they did know, and we don't know when they Saw the location, they wouldn't have told anybody until that moment in the cab, anyway." Annabeth reasoned.

(You do know... the Argonauts?")

"I think everybody does."

"Which means Percy won't know it." Clarisse shrugged when Percy glared at her. It wasn't her fault that he wasn't the most knowledgeable about their history, despite being there for a summer already and how knowledgeable Sally was.

("Yeah," I said... the clay skeletons.")

Nearly all the gods groaned. "Yet another historically inaccurate movie that's horribly written." Athena scowled.* The only things they got right were the people involved.

Hades scowled. "The makers of these films already have a special spot reserved for them." He promised darkly. Especially since most of these movies painted him in such a bad light. That Disney movie 'Hercules' especially.

(Annabeth rolled her... are so hopeless.")

"He really is." Most of the Greeks agreed.

"Hey!"

("What?" I demanded... and Europa, okay?)

"Not okay." Zeus cut in, looking confused while Hera glared at him. "Those two weren't my children, they weren't even demigods." Why would the book writers have gotten something so blatantly wrong?

"The only connection they have to Zeus is when Zeus kidnapped Europa." Poseidon cut in. "Cadmus went looking for her, only to abandon the search when the Oracle told him to go build a town instead."

"What? I thought-" Annabeth was confused, and naturally looked to Chiron for help.

"I think you got those two mixed up with Phrixus and Helle." He said gently. "They were children of Nephele, not Zeus." Now Annabeth was really confused, along with the rest of the demigods. They thought it was the other way around, too.

"You might want to double check the history books the camp uses, then." Percy snorted. That was the only place he could think of for everybody to have gotten the same wrong information.

(They were about... Zeus to save them.)

"They prayed to their mother, not me." Zeus shrugged. "I was not involved in any of this."

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "Basically, substitute Cadmus for Phrixus, Europa for Helle, and Zeus for Nephele, and you have the story." He informed the demigods. Annabeth was correct, she just had the wrong people involved for some reason.

(So Zeus sent this... that's not important.")

"I'm sure it was very important to them." Sally cut in, to much agreement.

Annabeth flushed while Percy grinned at her in triumph (to their confusion). "I'm sure it was, but it wasn't relevant to our discussion." She defended herself.

("It was probably important to her.")

Sally just chuckled while Annabeth rolled her eyes at the look on her boyfriend's face.

("The point is... cleans up pollution-")

Reyna whistled. "That is a powerful bit of magic." She said, blinking. To think that something so simple could do so much...

"It looks nice, too." Jason admitted. Reyna looked at him in question, to which he shook his head. No, he didn't think the Greeks would let them borrow it, nor did he think they really needed it unless something had happened in the months he'd been gone.

"I think we should leave the Senate in the dark about it." Reyna decided after a moment. It was going to be a fight in itself to get them to listen to her instead of declaring war on the Greeks, without them knowing the Greeks had something like this in their possession.

("It could cure Thalia's... Camp Half-Blood.)

"Oh, I think it will do more then that." Chiron muttered to Apollo, who nodded in agreement. They were both looking at Thalia. There was only one way she could have come back, she wasn't actually dead yet when she was turned into a tree, after all. There was still life in her, but there would have been nothing a Healer could have done by that point unless Apollo himself got involved. Being turned into a tree merely preserved her until this point in time, it seemed.

The Fleece could easily heal and restore her body.

(But Percy, the... it with no luck.")

"I bet none of those heroes took a Satyr with them." Percy countered with a smirk on his face.

"Of course. The Fleece is one of the strongest artifacts of nature magic in the world, aside from Pan himself." Hermes realized suddenly. "The Satyrs track the nature magic, thinking they found Pan because of how strong it is, only to find the Fleece instead." He frowned. "But then why do none of them return?" He seemed to have momentarily forgotten what he and Dionysus had already worked out earlier.

Reyna was slowly starting to realize that the Romans severely underestimated Fawns. Well, she'd started to understand it earlier when it was revealed that the Satyr's were the Greek demigods' protectors on their way to camp.

("But Grover found... radiate nature magic.)

"Find the Fleece, open the door to finding Pan." Hermes murmured, relieved now that he knew chances had just improved, but he also knew that the Satyr's didn't have any chance of finding a god who didn't want to be found, not if other gods couldn't find him.

"We really should have sent a Satyr with the searchers for the Fleece." Chiron muttered, wishing he'd thought of it before. Polyphemus being there would certainly complicate things for the current questers, though.

(It makes sense... It's perfect!")

As soon as he said that, a few people sucked in a breath.

That did sound perfect.

A little too perfect if you asked them.

They glanced towards Luke, wondering just what he was up to this time. Luke, for his part, wouldn't meet anyone's eyes. Luke hadn't actually known Grover was there, he'd just known that they needed the Fleece, so he created circumstances where they would have to find the Fleece. Thankfully the Gray Sisters had given Percy the location.

(Annabeth hesitated... if it's a trap?")

"Because it most likely is. This scenario is just a little too perfect." Clarisse said, realizing just why they'd been so insistent that they be the ones to go from the beginning. They'd had more information about what was happening.

She was also remembering everything Percy and Annabeth told her on the ironclad, and afterward when they got back to camp with Chiron.

(I remembered last... choice do we have?")

"That's always the problem. You know that it's likely a trap, but you have to go anyway and hope you can avoid the trap." Rachel sighed.

"We just have to keep our eyes open and be prepared for anything." Percy shrugged.

"We're good at getting out of traps, even if we can't always avoid them." Annabeth shook her head.

"We have a lot of experience with it, don't we?" Thalia grimaced.

(I asked. "Are... Grover or not?")

"Of course I was, there was never any question." Annabeth defended herself at the looks from everybody else.

"Of course there wasn't." Percy shrugged. "I just felt like asking." That, and he hadn't been sure after her initial response when he told her his dreams.

(She glanced at... spoons in the lava.)

There were some fond chuckles at that while Tyson smiled happily. He'd had fun with that.

"You can see his age there for sure." Amphitrite murmured with an eye roll.

("Percy," she said... fight a Cyclops.)

Hermes sucked in a breath at the reminder of the rest of the dream. "That's why none of them return." He muttered while Dionysus' grip on his magazine tightened at the realization of what was happening to his charges.

Poseidon winced at the look on Hermes' face. "I feel like I should apologize now." He said sheepishly. He didn't exactly watch what his sons were doing every minute. Perhaps he should, though, he would have at least known where the Fleece was before now.

Hermes made a face, but shook his head. "You have no control over what your children do in their own home." He sighed. "You have nothing to apologize for. I just hope Percy and Annabeth can properly punish them for it."

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.

(Polyphemus, the... Sea of Monsters.")

"That's not a good place to be." Reyna murmured quietly, shuddering. She quickly locked away the memories of that island, the place that used to be her home, until it turned into a nightmare. She resisted the urge to glare at Percy for its destruction, resolving to hear what happened from him first.

"No, it's not." Percy agreed quietly. He suspected that if he weren't a child of Poseidon, and if the sea weren't his home field, they would have had a much more difficult time of it.

("Where's that?"... was playing dumb.)

"With you I honestly wonder sometimes." Annabeth sighed, rolling her eyes. The warning look from Triton was the only thing keeping Athena from commenting.

"Hey!"

"You do say some dumb things." Thalia told her cousin conversationally. Nico nodded in agreement.

"Again, hey!" He pointed at Clarisse when she went to say something. "Don't you dare!" He narrowed his eyes. Annabeth laughed and kissed his cheek.

("The Sea of Monsters... mean the Mediterranean?")

"That is very true." Poseidon laughed. They had all sailed the Mediterranean, after all.

"I think she was looking for specifics." Athena glared, but didn't say anything else, not after the talk she and Triton had the day before. She was enjoying all the time spent with her foster father, even if she could do without her uncle's presence.

("No. Well, yes... but no.")

"Are you allergic to straight answers?" Leo asked blankly.

"Of course not!" Annabeth gave him a strange look.

"Well, you hardly ever give one." He grumbled, going back to his current project after getting a drink from his cappuccino machine, which had been moved to the courtyard when they started reading.

"You do seem to have a hard time giving straight answers, especially to Percy." Thalia shrugged, agreeing with Leo.

("Another straight... on their adventures.)

"Another reason Romans don't like the sea." Dakota commented, taking another drink of his Kool-Aid. The Romans didn't sail, period, unless they absolutely had to.

"It's just the Sea of Monsters that's overrun with them." Percy shrugged. Poseidon and his army did a good job of keeping them under control in the rest of the oceans.

(It used to be... of power shifts.")

"Is there anything left in Greece besides monsters and stuff?" Leo asked suddenly, tilting his head. The Underworld was under LA now, and Olympus was in New York, she just mentioned the Sea of Monsters (an entire sea) had shifted as well... Leo glanced at him, but didn't say anything. There was plenty left behind if you knew where to look...

The demigods all looked at the gods, curious about that as well.

"Well... the old entrances to those places are still there. There's nothing there anymore of course... it's all in America now. And all our old temples are still there." Apollo shrugged. "Delphi is still around, of course." Pretty much all that was left of their presence in the Ancient Lands were monsters and their temples, and many of the temples had long since fallen into disrepair as people stopped worshipping there. Those that had been fixed up had long since been turned into historical landmarks on the tour-guide map.

("Like Mount Olympus... something like that?)

"You don't." Poseidon snorted. He'd tried, he honestly had tried. But too many ships, boats, and planes went missing to be covered up. Not even the Mist could handle that many disappearances.

"The mortals know about it, they just can't explain it." Apollo snorted. And some of the explanations they came up with were very amusing.

(Wouldn't the mortals... northeast of Florida.)

"Umm... it's on the southeastern tip of Florida, actually." Poseidon shrugged, blaming her Dyslexia for this one. "And straight east."

"Oh. I must have read the map wrong." She muttered.

"Dyslexia." Katie shrugged, knowing that was what happened. When it came to reading anything, that was usually their go-to defense if they ended up being wrong.

(The mortals even have a name for it."

"The Bermuda Triangle?")

"Wow, you got that fast." Thalia blinked.

Percy glared. "No need to sound so surprised." He grumbled.

"Well, Annabeth usually has to spell stuff like that out for you." She shrugged apologetically. Despite how much she teased him, she knew he was smart, a lot smarter then he let on sometimes. It just surprised her when he actually showed it.

("Exactly."

I let that... know where to look.")

"Sort of, that is a very large area." Poseidon shrugged. Although those coordinates the Gray Sisters gave them would be very helpful, assuming he remembered them.

It had been a few days since they told him, and he'd had to deal with at least two monster attacks on his home since them, after all.

"It was a much smaller area then the entire Atlantic." Percy muttered.

("It's still a... is my home turf.)

"Yes, but you still need to know your destination in order to navigate a course." Triton snorted, rolling his eyes.

"I didn't think that far ahead." Percy muttered.

(How hard can it be?")

"And you just jinxed it." Clarisse groaned along with everybody else.

"Percy, haven't you learned by now?" Nico rolled his eyes.

Percy turned red. "I was thinking, alright?" He muttered. He'd been so focused on saving Grover he'd let his mouth run away from him.

(Annabeth knit her... quest. He'll say no.")

"Not if you play this right." Hermes promised, leaning forward to hear how they did it.

"Be careful, please." Poseidon muttered under his breath. His son was already being targeted by Tantalus, he did not need to be drawing the murderer's attention anymore then he already did just by being there.

("Not if we tell... be able to refuse.")

"Just don't get your hopes up that he lets you two be the ones to go." Dionysus snorted, knowing that Tantalus wasn't going to let Percy or Annabeth go if he could help it. He didn't like them at all it seemed.

Percy sighed. "Yeah, we should have thought of that." He admitted. They really should have seen it coming, Clarisse being chosen to go instead of the two people asking for it. She was his favorite, after all, no matter how uncomfortable she was with the attention from somebody like him.

"That is a good plan, he could still say no, but it would be much more difficult with everybody in front of him." Hermes complimented. That wasn't exactly what he was thinking they could do, but it might actually work out better.

("Maybe." A little... gun, will you?")

"That's not something I ever thought I'd hear." Paul muttered to Sally, who snorted. And he'd thought he heard it all when his wife and step-son revealed just who it was that visited on Percy's birthday.

"Keep listening, I'm sure you'll hear more." She advised, amused.

(That night at... afternoon's bird attack.)

"Even if those birds did taste really good." Katie cut in.

"You're being quiet." Jason muttered to Chris. He'd had plenty to say during Percy's time at camp in the first book, but he wasn't saying a word about Tantalus or how this summer had gone, while his siblings were being very vocal.

He grimaced. "I wasn't here this summer, remember?" He reminded the Roman. It wasn't really something he wanted to get into right now, there would be plenty of time for that when his part in the war came up in the books. He wasn't sure whether or not Percy and Annabeth saw him on the ship, or if his part was going to wait until Clarisse got him out of the Labyrinth. Briefly he wondered how Jason didn't already know of his time in the Titan Lord's army, but figured that nobody really liked to bring it up, especially him.

(We all sat... is Minos's Land.")

"Those aren't standard at any camp I've ever been to." Paul snorted, although now he was interested in hearing those.

"Or me." Rachel shrugged. But then, the one time she'd been able to talk her father into letting her go to summer camp, it had still been 'rich kid camp' instead of the 'artistic kid camp' she'd wanted to go to.

(The bonfire was...

burst into flames.)

"That was a good night." Katie murmured.

"That was a good day." Travis countered. It had been a fun day.

"What happened?" Chiron asked, curious. He'd seen the flames that high and hot before, so it wasn't news to him, but it was his experience that there was usually one event during the day that had the kids in such a good mood that night. The bonfire was a good indicator of how his students were feeling, too. He liked to see the bonfire high and hot.

The futures glanced at each other. "It's something you're going to have to experience." Annabeth finally said with an eyeroll while the Stolls grinned at each other.

(Tonight, the fire... the color of lint.)

"That was true the entire time Tantalus was there." Connor scoffed.

"That was an all-time low for that summer, though." Percy sighed. Chiron grimaced, but didn't say anything. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen the bonfire so low.

(Dionysus left early... exciting than this.)

"Oh, that's bad." Apollo commented when Dionysus flinched backward with an interesting look on his face.

"Especially since he's always losing." Hermes agreed.

"That man is never coming to my camp. Ever." Dionysus muttered darkly.

(Then he gave... the Big House.)

"Even you can't stand the man." Sally murmured. "But then who brought him out and put him in charge?" She questioned again.

"That is a very good question." Poseidon sighed. "Unfortunately, unless Percy happens to learn that information at some point in this book, we may never know who's idea this was."

A note flashed in the air and drifted down to rest in Hestia's lap. She picked it up and read it in surprise. "According to the Fates, it was Zeus's idea. He wanted to further punish Chiron for letting Thalia's tree be poisoned." She put it down and looked up to glare at her youngest brother while Chiron sighed.

"Tantalus was to punish Chiron? But I thought being fired was his punishment." Chris spoke up, confused.

"It was. But just knowing that man was in charge of my camp and the welfare of my students..." Chiron trailed off. That was the true punishment, he felt.

"So you're going to punish our children just to get at Chiron for something he had no control or influence over?" Demeter spat, glaring. "I knew you were petty, little brother, I never knew you could sink this low." She informed him.

Zeus flinched at the way she sneered 'little brother' and managed to turn the usually affectionate term into an insult. "I apologize." He gritted out. "I am sure that events like this will never have cause to happen again." He glared at Luke again, still planning his punishment as soon as he could get him separated from those 'messengers'. Nobody believed his apology, but Hermes knew that any further discussion would be pointless.

(When the last... that was lovely!")

Will made a face. Despite their best efforts to be upbeat, the musicians had been just as down as the rest of the group, and it showed in their performance.

"Not the best performance?" Apollo asked his son, catching the look on his face.

"Not at all." Will shook his head.

(He came forward... into the flames.)

"Watching his attempts with food was the only good part about him being there." Clarisse sighed.

"It was entertaining."

Chiron sighed and looked up, praying for patience. He couldn't rebuke them for it, though, because he truly was an awful man and they had to get their amusement from somewhere. Besides, this was rather tame in comparison.

(Tantalus turned...

"Sir," I said.)

"He doesn't deserve the honor of a respectful title." Apollo muttered.

"Respect is the safest route to go, though, when he is in charge of our children." Poseidon reminded his nephew, who scowled but didn't say anything.

(Tantalus's eye... campers snickered,)

"That wasn't even remotely funny, or even witty." Travis rolled his eyes. As the princes of pranks (Percy took the title of King), they knew funny, and they knew witty.

Clarisse sighed. "It was Mark and Avery. What do you expect?" She asked. Those two weren't known for their sense of humor. Also, they seemed to especially hate Percy for some reason that she'd never understood, at least, they took it further then the rest of them did.

(but I wasn't going... stood up with me.)

"Of course I was, it was partly my idea." Annabeth gave him a strange look.

"Yeah, but I didn't know if you were going to help, especially after he already started in on me." Percy shrugged.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "You know I'm not going to let you go into it alone." She grumbled.

(I said, "We have... flared bright yellow.)

"That's one way to tell the mood of a crowd." Paul snorted. He knew mood rings were a thing, but that was a bit much.

"It is a good indicator." Chiron said again.

"Who enchanted it? Or is it just..." Dakota asked curiously.

"Nobody in particular. It's a skill I picked up over the years." Chiron informed the Roman. He was the son of a Titan, after all. He had to have picked up a few things from his old man.

("Indeed," Tantalus... where it is.")

"That should get people's attention." Reyna snorted. Even the Roman's knew about the Fleece and what it did, despite their aversion to anything Greek. Although they hadn't known the story behind how it came to be.

"They had our attention when he said 'save the camp'." Travis informed her. He didn't know about that, but as soon as they said that, he was ready to go.

(The flames burned... coming from her.)

"That's because she actually knew what she was talking about." Clarisse informed him blankly.

"And we could tell." Travis cut in while the others snickered.

"I knew what I was talking about!" Percy protested.

"You didn't sound like you were too sure of it." Katie pointed out. "She sounded more sure of herself."

"You did sound like you weren't too sure of what we were talking about." Annabeth grimaced when Percy looked at her to help defend him. She chuckled a little and kissed the betrayed look off his face.

("The Fleece can... "I'm certain of it.")

"The Fleece is the only thing that can save the camp at this point." Demeter sighed, frowning.

"They used a powerful poison." Chiron agreed, while Luke looked down in shame.

("Nonsense," said... need saving.")

"Did he really just say that?" Gwen demanded. "Is he blind?" First with the bird attack, and now this? The camp was clearly dying!

"We wondered the same thing." Travis assured the Roman girl.

"How could Lord Zeus bring somebody like him here?" Reyna muttered, shaking her head. She didn't even know what the big deal with him was yet! She'd heard snippets from the gods about him, but not the full story yet. Just what they had read so far, though, was enough to know that this man should not be here, in a camp full of kids.

(Everybody stared... looking uncomfortable.)

"I can't believe he said anything like that either." Hestia muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

"Extremely good advisors." Somebody muttered about Tantalus.

("Besides," he added... where to look.")

Everybody who had said something similar grimaced in disgust at having said the same thing as this murderer.

("Yes, I would,"... "You would?")

"This was news to me." Annabeth shrugged at the looks. "A little warning would have been nice, I looked like an idiot, telling everybody we needed this, but not even knowing everything." She complained.

"Sorry, I hadn't quite worked it out until just then." Percy apologized sheepishly. She just rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, you were still more convincing." Connor assured the daughter of Athena, earning a slight glare from Percy for the reminder and more laughter from the others.

(I nodded, because... no sense. But now...)

"Now they made perfect sense." Percy finished that thought.

"I still can't believe you pieced that together like that." Annabeth shook her head. "We were told those numbers weeks ago, in a high-stress situation, we'd had several fights since then with monsters, and it was a random string of numbers! How do you go from that to sailing coordinates?" Don't get her wrong, she knew that for all his idiocy sometimes, Percy was truly quite smart. But he hardly ever showed it and when he did it was with the most random leaps of logic that left her baffled.

Percy shrugged, not quite sure why his brain jumped to that, either.

("30, 31, 75, 12," I... meaningless numbers.")

"Maybe to somebody who knows nothing about sailing." Poseidon muttered. Strings of numbers like that were second nature to him and his children, enough that it was literally ingrained into his children's blood.

Especially when on the sea.

("They're sailing coordinates,"... in social studies.")

Sally sighed. "Well, at least you learned something in that school." She muttered.

"At least they taught you something." Athena grumbled, not hearing what Sally had just said. That didn't mean she wasn't getting that place shut down, one good class or lesson did not make it a worthwhile school.

(Even Annabeth... coast of Florida.)

"Wait a minute... you can't tell the Cardinal directions on a map, but you can read the numbers and find the coordinates? Without even looking at one?" Reyna cut in, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, we're weird that way." Percy shrugged.

The Romans looked at all the Greeks, looked at each other, and collectively decided Greeks were strange and they didn't want to know.

(The Sea of Monsters... Tantalus insisted.)

"Be careful." Apollo warned, biting his lip.

"You don't want to push him too far." Poseidon finished, worried. Tantalus was already gunning for his son, they didn't need to push him any further.

"He wouldn't dare do anything with me nearby." Dionysus assured the two, eyes flashing purple for a second.

("WE NEED A... NEED A QUEST!")

"Ow." Apollo muttered, rubbing his ear where Hermes had practically been screaming the last part.

"That's how it's written." Hermes said innocently. "See?" He held out the book, showing the all caps lettering.

"That doesn't mean you should scream it in our ears." Artemis snapped on the other side of her brother. The last several days with her brother had actually been enjoyable, she was already dreading the time when they were done with these books and he went back to the annoying little brother she knew.

("Fine!" Tantalus... with anger.)

"Uh-oh. D, you better be keeping an eye on this." Apollo warned, biting his lip harder. He was starting to lose it, none of the kids knew what this man was capable of, the gods did, and they did not like that the kids were alone with him.

Dionysus frowned. "I believe I would be." He quickly assured the glaring parents in the room. And he knew Hestia was always nearby on bonfire nights, she liked watching the kids and listening to them singing, joking around, and generally being kids.

("You brats want... Or die trying.")

"That's not comforting." Sally deadpanned.

"Sadly, that is the reality of their lives." Paul murmured to her, beginning to understand that more and more. He'd thought he understood it when he saw demigods come into their home battered and hungry, but the more he read about his step-sons life first hand instead of the highlights.

(My heart filled with excitement.)

"I don't think this is going to go the way you think it will." Athena mused, tilting her head.

Tantalus wasn't going to give Percy anything, especially not the quest.

Percy winced and sighed. "Yeah, we really should have expected this."

(I wasn't going... would stop me.)

"Especially not him telling me to stay." Percy muttered.

"Oh, Percy." Sally sighed.

"Rebellious highway." Nico muttered to Thalia, who nodded in agreement.

("I will allow our... to flay us alive.)

"He probably did." Most of the future Greeks said at once.

"Yeah, probably." Percy shrugged.

"Don't sound so casual about it." Sally deadpanned, glaring at her son for it.

("The champion should... this quest... Clarisse!")

"Wait, what?" Gwen burst out, confused. "Nothing against you, Clarisse, but Percy is the one having dreams, and Percy is the one who was told where to go." To her mind, that meant the quest was Percy's.

"Yes, but you've forgotten something." Percy cut in. "Tantalus hated me for some reason." Even he'd been surprised, of course, but it made sense that Tantalus picked her instead of him. He favored her, and hated him. Simple.

Ares frowned thoughtfully. He was proud that one of his had been chosen, but bad things tended to happen to demigods who went on a quest that wasn't meant for them. He could only hope that the Oracle gave her a prophecy or something to show that she was meant to go. And he didn't like that Tantalus was favoring her like this.

(The fire flickered... "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!")

"It had been a while since one of us was chosen for a quest." Clarisse shrugged when people looked at her curiously for her siblings reactions. They were part of the quest party often enough, but it was rare that they were chosen to lead it.

"Which is a shame because once you get past the arrogance and blood lust, you guys are good leaders." Percy shrugged.

(Clarisse stood up... came to me.")

"Which means he needs to at least be part of the quest." Apollo pointed out needlessly. They'd already covered this after all.

"Yeah, and he has the new link with Grover, otherwise they aren't going to know how much longer they have to find him." Nico pointed out. A quest party might be able to bring the Fleece back, but they might not get there in time to save Grover as well.

"Getting to me would be good." Grover cut in, although if his older self was sitting right here, it was clear they'd rescued him.

("Sit down!" yelled... chance last summer!")

"Because I was being accused of theft, and my mother had been kidnapped." Percy deadpanned. If he could have stayed at camp and gotten more training he would have.

"I think Annabeth was the only one who wanted to go on that quest." Grover supplied. The only reason he'd gone was because Percy was going, after all, and he still had to prove that he was a good protector.

Annabeth turned red. "So I wanted to get out of camp! It wasn't a big deal." She grumbled.

("Yeah, he just... save the camp!")

Ares puffed up proudly at that statement, his children didn't get much opportunity for being in the spotlight, after all.

"And you did." Percy muttered, smirking at Luke. She just rolled her eyes.

Luke huffed. It had been a great plan, and would have worked. He honestly hadn't expected Percy to entrust the Fleece to Clarisse to take the rest of the way home. He supposed that he should have, they were on a time crunch after all if they wanted to have a camp left to save.

(The Ares campers... throwing marshmallows.)

"Food fight!" The Stolls cheered.

"We never did get to finish it, did we?" Clarisse wondered out loud.

"Not that one, no." Percy shrugged, not too worried about it. It seemed like they had a food fight about every week, after all, usually because of an argument somebody started.

"You have food fights all the time?" Reyna asked, raising an eyebrow. Did these Greeks have any discipline at all?

"I would rather they throw food then fists." Chiron declared. Food didn't break bones and leave bruises. At least, it shouldn't.

(I thought it was... you brats!")

"He's been pushed too far." Amphitrite murmured in concern. The Tantalus they knew never raised his voice otherwise.

Of course, the Tantalus they knew would never have done what this man did, either.

(His tone stunned... a ghost story.")

"I already don't like where this is going." Chiron muttered.

(I didn't know... monster I'd faced.)

"Not all monsters are creatures like the Hellhound or Dracaena. Some of the worst monsters in the world are human." Chiron said wisely, looking at his students and trying to make sure they understood this.

He didn't want them to get in that mindset and then be blindsided.

Piper, Leo, and Jason glanced at each other, all thinking of Midas and Medea.

("Once upon a... of the gods!")

"He's putting more importance on our relationship with him then he should be." Apollo muttered. Did they like the guy? Sure. He was a good conversationalist and could even talk strategy with Athena. Was he 'much beloved'? He wouldn't go that far.

"Are we finally going to find out why they don't like him? Aside from his awful personality." Reyna wondered out loud.

"Awful doesn't quite do it justice." Percy muttered.

(Tantalus put his... about himself.)

"He is." All the gods said at once.

("This king," he... Mount Olympus.)

"Once. He was only invited up here once." Zeus deadpanned.

"That is still a big honor." Hestia reminded him.

"Even if it was only once, he was still here." Apollo scowled at the reminder of that night. It had been an... interesting night, that was for sure.

(But when he tried... out the recipe-)

"Was he completely mortal?" Gwen asked.

"Yes." All the gods said at once.

"Did he miss the part where mortals can't eat that or they would incinerate?" Rachel asked, blinking.

"Apparently." All the demigods said at once. They had godly blood in their veins and even they had to be careful with it. A mortal wouldn't stand a chance with it.

"There isn't even a recipe that mortals could follow. The ingredients in it are not available to mortals." Hestia shrugged. Mortals wouldn't even know those ingredients existed.

(just one little... gods punished him.)

"He stole it, didn't he?" Jason muttered.

(They banned... halls forever!)

"Of course we did! He stole from us! He's lucky that's all we did." Aphrodite exclaimed. They could have made his people and family pay for it, but instead all they did was ban him from returning.

"We invited him into our home to dine, and he stole from us." Apollo added, scowling.

(His own people... scolded him!)

"Because they knew he did something wrong and he could have truly brought their kingdom to ruin with that action." Persephone advised the demigods.

"If it weren't for Hestia stepping in..." Zeus muttered. He had absolutely no problem with destroying the entire kingdom for their kings insult, but Hestia stepped in and reminded him he couldn't punish the entire kingdom for his actions.

The reason Tantalus and his kingdom had their favor was because they were prosperous and were devote in their worship. The people didn't deserve to suffer for their kings' sticky fingers. That was her reasoning, anyway. Zeus could really care less about any of that.

(And, oh yes... horrible children.)

"His children were wonderful!" Hestia defended the four immediately. "Polite, well-behaved, and responsible. He just didn't know how to appreciate what he had." They weren't snobbish like many royal or noble children tended to be in those days.

(Children- just- like... audience, including me.)

"Not surprising, he really hated me for some reason." Percy shrugged.

"If he's comparing you to his children, you should take it as a compliment." Hestia assured him, not sure who else the murderer had pointed to, but knowing there were several children at camp that could fit that description.

"Considering what he did to his own children, I'm not sure if I like him comparing my son to them." Poseidon muttered. Amphitrite nodded in agreement.

("Do you know... ungrateful children?")

"I don't think I want to know." Sally whispered. Her voice carried in the silence of the courtyard.

Everybody had fallen silent when Tantalus began his story, the demigods were even still. The older Greeks who had heard the story, out of respect for the mad king's children, and the younger ones who didn't know the story in anticipation.

(Tantalus asked softly... cruel punishment?)

"Cruel?" Zeus burst out. "He got off easy after stealing from us!" The rest of them nodded their agreement.

"I'll show him cruel." Hades muttered darkly. Truthfully, he would agree with Tantalus on his views, except Tantalus earned his banishment. Hades' didn't earn his.

(He invited the... were missing.)

"Oh this isn't going to be good." Reyna murmured.

"It wasn't." Hestia said darkly.

(And when he... was in the stew?")

The demigods who hadn't heard this story before gasped in horror, some turned green and had to hurry away to get their stomachs under control.

"He- his children?" Sally whispered in shock. This was one story she hadn't read when she researched the Greek world, it seemed.

"How could any father do that to their children?" Paul asked. Percy was just his stepson, but he couldn't imagine doing anything like that.

"He's no father." Hestia said darkly. He wasn't family, either. Family was messy, yes, but they did not do that to their children.

"I don't think I'm going to be eating stew for a while." Rachel muttered, shivering.

(No one dared... crooked face.)

"You like that description." A few people glanced at Luke, knowing Percy had described him almost the same way in torchlight.

"It's a good description. It works, and its accurate." Percy defended himself.

("Oh, the gods... Tantalus croaked.)

"Surrounded by food and water but unable to eat or drink. Fitting." Reyna said.

"We thought so." Poseidon smiled slightly at the Roman girl. They'd had a good talk during the break as Neptune, and he thought they had some of the issues they had with him and the sea worked out. He doubted they would ever include him in their worship, but hopefully he would at least get a bigger temple and it would be better maintained.

Hades grumbled something about interfering in his business, but he didn't protest. This was one where they had been directly affected, after all. His crimes weren't just against his family, they were against Olympus as well.

("They did indeed... questioned his authority.)

"What happened to his children?" Everybody looked at Hades when this was asked.

"Owing to the circumstances, their young age, and interference," His glare towards the rest of the council told the demigods just who interfered, "The younger children were granted rebirth, while the oldest went to Elysium for his deeds during his life."

"There was a rather large age gap between him and his siblings." Hestia supplied when she saw the demigods' confusion.

Ares nodded. "He was the leader of his father's armies. He was a good warrior, a good leader." He protected his people from many outside threats, protected his younger siblings from his father's occasional temper, and never asked more of his men then he himself was willing to do.

(And do you know... her quest?"

Silence.)

"None of us were going to make him even angrier." Connor defended everybody at that bonfire.

"I don't blame you." Hermes informed his sons with a sigh.

"Who would after a tale like that?" Paul asked. Nobody blamed the kids for staying quiet after that.

(Tantalus nodded at... Tantalus's pet.)

"Of course not! He creeped me out and he didn't care about the safety of our camp or us." She defended herself.

The way he reacted during the bird attack and how he tried to discourage them from patrolling the borders was proof enough of that.

("Sir-"

"Go!" he snarled... of punishing me again.)

"Who knows what he could have come up with this time." Poseidon muttered, shuddering. Amphitrite nodded in agreement while Triton tugged Percy towards himself protectively.

"Nothing good." Annabeth muttered. Washing the dishes had been difficult enough, especially with all the extra plates and stuff that night. They'd been lucky to get done in time for the bonfire.

("Good," Tantalus said... expelled forever,)

"He can't do that!" Chiron protested. The other parents joined his protests.

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, slightly fearful hearing that. This was a camp designed to be a safe haven, could they really be turned away for such a petty reason?

"The only reasons a camper can be expelled from camp, and I mean only reasons, is if they betray Olympus or commit a crime so horrible... or if they do something that severely endangers the camp and their fellow students to a great enough extent." Chiron explained. "Leaving without permission is frowned upon, but it's not an offense grave enough for expulsion. If that were the case, cabin eleven wouldn't have any children of Hermes remaining!" He and Dionysus knew everytime a camper left, no matter who they were or who their parent was, and no matter how good they were at hiding their tracks.

Zeus finally spoke. "He is the new Activities Director, so he can do that."

"Not without going through me he's not." Dionysus said firmly, glaring at his father. Tantalus may be the new (very, very temporary) Activities Director, but he was still the Camp Director. His word was final, every decision the AD made had to go through him, just like every decision Argus or even the cooks made had to go through him. He may not like his job (ok, he absolutely hated it), but he still had a job to do. And, like earlier stated, he had children of own at that place!

The Greeks blinked at Mr. D in amazement, wondering if he'd just defended them in some way.

(but it won't... are always hungry!)

Dionysus sighed before Sally Jackson could get worked up. "The harpies know better then to even think of it." He assured the mortal woman before she could demand answers from him. Then he went back to his magazine, certain that the parts with Tantalus were finished for a while, and he no longer had to be attentive.

Chiron sighed and shook his head at his nephew. "The harpies are not going to be eating anybody." He assured her again, a little more gently and reassuring then Dionysus had been.

(Good night, my... cabins in the dark.)

"The lamps weren't lit?" Sally asked in confusion. Wasn't something said in the first book about lamps in the common area?

"He ended the bonfire early, so they hadn't been turned on yet." Percy said with a shrug.

(I couldn't explain... wouldn't let me.)

"Are you really going to let that stop you?" Jason asked with a snort.

"Nope." Percy shrugged.

"Technically we had permission." Annabeth pointed out.

"Tantalus just..." Connor was confused. Mr. D never said anything about them having his permission to go, either.

"Not from him. Or Mr. D." Now everybody was even more confused.

("You will go anyway?"... Too dangerous.")

"I didn't want him getting hurt." Percy shrugged, letting everybody know that that really was the reason. "And... I didn't want to deal with Annabeth's attitude towards him the entire trip." He figured he and Annabeth would both find a way to go. Of course, after thinking he'd lost Tyson in that explosion, his worries were proven correct. That had been a nightmare come true.

"Even though you're still unsure of his new place in your life, your still protecting him." Hestia said with a small smile. That was how a family should work. She chose to ignore the comment about Annabeth for now, she did have a rotten attitude towards Tyson, but she had a reason for it, which would be explained later. She wasn't too happy with the girl using the one incident and painting all Cyclops with the same brush, but the girl was also young when it happened and all she had at camp were the stories of the bad Cyclops.

(Tyson looked down... and spare parts,)

"I don't think I ever thanked him for that." Percy muttered.

Beckendorf heard and waved off the thanks on behalf of his book-self. "I'm sure it was nothing."

"How does he handle those small pieces with his big hands?"

"What does his hand size have to do with it?" Leo asked, soldering a few bits together for Tyson's current project with his finger. Tyson was determined that his brother was going to have a shield, so he was once again building a new one since Percy kept losing them or breaking them. That was alright though, they were lost because they were doing their job and keeping Percy safe. He was going to try something new this time though, and make it even more sturdy and enchant it like Percy's sword Riptide.

(and now Tyson... delicate little pieces.)

"Thank you." Thalia said, glad that Percy thought the same way she did.

"Easily, he is a Cyclops after all." Beckendorf answered the question that had been asked twice now.

("What are you... want me along?")

"I did want you along, I just didn't want anything to happen to you." Percy corrected, almost repeating himself from earlier but he didn't care.

"It was nothing against you." Annabeth sighed. "Just..." She couldn't really defend herself, though. She had treated Tyson rotten. It had taken Percy's reaction to thinking they lost Tyson that made her start to really think.

("Oh, that's not... you. Really.")

"You know he's going to know your lying."

Percy sighed. "I know. I just... I don't like it when he's sad or about to cry, and I know that tone, he was about to cry." He honestly could have killed Annabeth for making Tyson cry.

(He had tears... the same ability.)

"They do." Nearly all the gods and Greeks said at once.

"It can be so annoying at times." Clarisse muttered, eyeing Grover, who smirked. It made it nearly impossible to lie to them, though.

"Tyson would have an easier time of it, too, then Grover would have with you, because he's also a child of the sea." Poseidon said with a smirk. They had similar natures, whereas Percy's unpredictable and ever-changing nature was what made it so hard for Grover to tell how he was feeling.

Percy sighed. "I noticed." He grumbled. That made it difficult to lie to Tyson, even if it was to protect him. Tyson could always tell when he was even lying to himself.

(Tyson folded up... like a teddy bear.)

A few of the girls 'awed' and cooed at the cute mental image that created. The guys would have teased Tyson over the description except... well, he was Tyson. He was quite a bit bigger and stronger then they were and didn't always remember his own strength in comparison to them.

(When he turned... him with a tractor.)

"What-" Will started to ask, but stopped. He'd never had to treat Tyson for anything before, so he'd never seen his back or those scars. Percy had mentioned them in an earlier chapter, of course, but he'd forgotten about it in the wake of the monster attack. He also knew that somebodies scars weren't something that you just asked about, especially not with some of their past home lives.

"Sphinx." Tyson answered shortly, not wanting to get into it. Poseidon winced and glanced at Tyson guiltily. He still thought he could have done more to interfere, even though he knew it wouldn't have been a good idea.

(I wondered for the... not have been born.")

"That's not..." Poseidon started to say, visibly upset that his youngest Cyclops was thinking this way, but Tyson cut him off.

"It is okay, Daddy. I know you care." He said simply. Poseidon brought him to Percy, after all. He glanced at Amphitrite, who's lips were pursed. She didn't say anything, though. No matter how correct she was in thinking that Tyson was right in that he technically shouldn't have been born, the same was true of every single kid in the room with them except Rachel.

("Don't talk that... cardboard refrigerator box.)

"I watched over him as best I could." Poseidon said softly. "That's the way Cyclops children are raised, I dislike it, but that's how it is." There was a finality in his tone that told the others he would not be discussing it.

Surprisingly, everybody that would have protested at this (again) stayed silent on the matter.

The demigods were silent, knowing that they'd all felt just like Tyson from time to time.

(How could Tyson... was a monster?)

"I have no choice in the matter, that is the way they are raised, that's the way they have to be raised." He'd tried to change it, it didn't work out so well for the Cyclops in question.

If they were raised like a human child, they became dependent, clingy, and they couldn't think for themselves. If they were raised on the streets, they were independent, they could defend themselves and would stand up for themselves, and while they could still be clingy at times, they could and would go off on their own. He didn't know what it was about them, perhaps it was their slow maturity, but they just couldn't be raised by somebody in the safety of a home and be expected to survive on their own.

("Tyson... camp... you. I promise.")

"Yeah, you just had to be patient." Katie chimed in, smiling at Tyson. They'd been awful to him when he arrived, and for a bit longer after they returned with the Fleece. But they got used to him, especially since Chiron stopped them cold when he saw a few kids trying to pick on the friendly Cyclops. Percy's reaction was even better in that regard.

Now it was only the new kids who tried to start anything with Tyson when he visited from the Forges, and their attitudes didn't last long, either.

(Tyson sighed. I... was already asleep.)

Percy sighed. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to have a heart-to-heart when the other person is always falling asleep on you?" He demanded. Both Grover and Tyson did it to him all the time.

"I would imagine quite difficult." Aphrodite tried to stifle a laugh.

Grover hid his grin. "Sorry, Perce." He said, failing at sounding remorseful. Percy glared, knowing that he wasn't really sorry.

(I lay back on... I ever wake up?)

"I didn't mean to scare you with it!" Grover groaned.

"You didn't scare me with it..." Percy protested. "It was just a concern. A valid concern considering where you were." He shrugged.

"True." Grover muttered, frowning.

(The full moon... through the forest.)

"That sounds so peaceful." Gwen murmured. Camp Jupiter was a military camp. It worked like a military camp and it behaved like a military camp, no matter what time it was.

"It was." Percy smiled slightly.

"There was something wrong, though." Katie sighed. "It was peaceful, but there was still an underlying tension." Her siblings had a hard time that summer with the sickness in the air and in the plants. The rest of the future Greeks nodded their agreement with that assessment.

(But something felt... across the valley.)

Zeus glared and growled again at the reminder. Luke winced and wouldn't look at him or Thalia.

(Could Clarisse save... award from Tantalus.)

"Hey!" Clarisse protested, glaring at Percy for the slight to her abilities. Ares' hand inched for his sword before he stopped himself, glaring at Percy himself.

He cringed. "Sorry. This was before we got to know each other." He tried to defend himself.

"That was still uncalled for." Sally rebuked, taking Clarisses' side in this.

(I got out of... under my bunk.)

"Those aren't allowed." Chiron said mildly, amused. They weren't, but he didn't pitch a fit when he found them, either. He just confiscated them.

"Why not?" Gwen asked, blinking in surprise.

"A camp full of ADHD and hyperactive children with easy access to processed sugars and such? I prefer the camp to stay standing." Dionysus muttered, flipping a page in his magazine. There was a reason why the nymphs only used raw unprocessed sugars.

"Agreed." Chiron stated. Some of the demigods were calmed down by the sugar, others not so much. That was why he didn't pitch a fit, especially if he found it with somebody who was calmed down.

(The cokes were... convenience store.)

"We know they do it." Chiron shrugged. It was hard not to when one was a god and the other had seen just about every trick in the book over a span of several thousand years. Once in a while there was a prank that he truly didn't see coming, but that wasn't the case when it came to them sneaking out. (Also... he had a deal with the owners and employees of the store to give him a call after a visit from one of his campers.)

"We just let them think they got away with it." Dionysus muttered and almost started laughing at the affronted looks on the Hermes children's faces.

(Sneaking out... the rules, too.)

"Since when do you care for following rules?" Thalia asked. This was the second time he mentioned something was against the rules.

Percy shrugged. "I don't. But I also don't want to risk Tyson if I push Tantalus too far." That silenced those who were laughing. Tyson was a Cyclops after all, and Tantalus had already proven what he thought of Tyson within five minutes of Tyson's arrival to camp. Tantalus didn't care that Tyson had been Claimed, even, he laughed, he practically laughed in Poseidon's face at Tyson's Claiming.

Tyson looked at Percy. "I can take care of myself." He assured Percy.

"I know, big guy." Percy smiled at his brother. That didn't mean he wasn't going to stop worrying, though. Tyson was still a child by Cyclops standards and he was very child-like sometimes by human standards.

(If I got caught... to see the ocean.)

"Spoken like a true son of Poseidon." Amphitrite snorted in amusement. Triton glanced at her and blinked.

"Nothing wrong with that." Poseidon shrugged. He loved looking out at the oceans when he couldn't sleep. He would usually travel to some beach somewhere and just sit there. Other times he simply remained on his bedroom balcony and stared out at the city below him and the waters beyond that.

"There is leeway in the curfew rules if it involves their parents' domain. Not even the harpies could do anything about it, no matter what Tantalus may have told them. They know better." Chiron assured the worried mortal parents. He knew that sometimes they just couldn't sleep, and working with their magic or being near their parents' domain somehow always calmed them down and let them sleep.

He lost count of how many times he'd caught children of Demeter in the berry fields tending the plants, or a child of Ares in the training arena going at a dummy at one in the morning. Now if they were up to trouble, then they would have an issue. But he was fairly lenient when they were just trying to quiet their minds.

(I always felt better... nothing came to me.)

"You mean you haven't already decided to go?" Nico asked, surprised.

"I think I did... but I wasn't sure how to start off. I mean, Sea of Monsters means I would need a boat, and I knew Annabeth would want to come, and so would Tyson. But I didn't want to risk anything happening to Tyson out there. At the same time I didn't want to leave him in camp with Tantalus in charge." Percy explained.

(I wished Poseidon... advice or something.)

"Sorry, Percy. Some things you must figure out on your own." Poseidon gave him a sad smile. Unfortunately this was one of those times where he couldn't interfere. Somebody else probably could, but he couldn't. He would get around it as much as he could, but advice would be a bit blatant.

"I know. It's ok." Percy shrugged. Poseidon sighed, because he could tell that it wasn't ok, but there wasn't much he could do about it beyond finding and using those loopholes.

(The sky was clear... "Beautiful, aren't they?")

"Where did this person come from?" Paul asked, a little worried. If it was somebody from camp, Percy was in trouble now. Unfortunately, the only way he could see it being somebody else was if they somehow slipped through the weakening borders. This had to be the stranger from the chapter title, though.

Hermes read ahead at the description of the person and raised an eyebrow in Percy's direction. He wondered what he was doing there and his eyes drifted towards Luke.

(I almost spewed soda.)

Hermes snorted. "That's not the best reaction I've ever had." He muttered before he continued.

(Standing right next... and a sly smile.)

"Hermes? What are you doing there?" Hera asked, confused and suspicious.

"Just giving advice." Hermes smiled innocently. That was the only thing he could think of for why he would be there. He glanced at Luke again.

(He looked kind... figure out why.)

"Percy." Annabeth groaned. "This is the second time!" Their kids looked similar enough to them that he should be able to recognize that at least!

"What? I'd never seen him before this!" He defended himself.

"He has a point." Katie informed Annabeth, who sighed, but dropped it.

(My first thought... enter the valley.)

"Well, there was that thing with the pizza delivery guy." Percy amended.

"That was interesting." Everyone who was there that day muttered.

(But maybe with... managed to slip in.)

"It happened when the borders were at full strength, why not when they were weakening?" Percy asked, shrugging.

Chiron shook his head and made a mental note to find that hole and fix it. That shouldn't happen.

(But in the middle... have jogged from?)

"From wherever he wanted to jog from." Apollo shrugged.

"Very helpful when I didn't know who he was!" Percy shot back deadpanned. Until he'd pulled out the phone with the snakes on it, he'd had no reason to suspect this guy was anything but a regular mortal. Apollo shrugged again.

("May I join... down in ages.")

"I bet." Hermes mumbled and shuddered at the thought of what his inbox might look like after a short conversation with Percy. He very rarely got to sit down. Ever.

"Been busy?" Apollo asked, a sympathetic look on his face. He was one of the few who knew just how busy Hermes was kept on a regular basis, he had to help out often enough.

(Now, I know... yell for help, etc.)

"Even inside the camp's boundaries?" Thalia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Even inside camp." Percy shrugged. "It's just common sense when you see a stranger." He repeated himself.

(But the guy... to be afraid.)

"That's a good point." Nico admitted. Since he was alone for so long, he knew how to watch other people to gauge their intentions. You could learn a lot about a person's intentions by their demeanor, even if some people were able to hide it better then others.

(I said, "Uh, sure."... Coca-Cola! May I?")

"Really?" Apollo asked, amused. He may not care much for mortal food, but for some reason the council all seemed addicted to mortal drinks.

"It's probably been the first chance I had to sit down and have something to drink all day!" Hermes defended himself with a small grin. He glanced at Luke again, wanting to skip all this other stuff to get to the heart of the conversation he and Percy were about to have, but knowing he had to read it all.

So far even the most insignificant of details had been important in some way further on down the line.

(He sat at the... off in his pocket.)

Hermes groaned. "Of course it did." He groused. "That thing never stops going off." He kept grumbling before he started reading again. Half the time he just wanted to smash the stupid thing.

"I hate it when that happens." Sally commiserated with the god, although somehow she had a feeling that she didn't know the half of it.

(The jogger sighed... with a bluish light.)

"My first clue that this guy wasn't a regular mortal." Percy shrugged. Mortals didn't have glowing blue phones, after all. Especially ones with snakes around the antenna.

"That's a pretty good clue." Annabeth said, amused.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Shush." He said fondly.

(When he extended... than earthworms.)

Hey, that's us! Everybody heard, to most of their surprise, especially since they were two strange voices and nobody had spoken. Hermes sighed and pulled out his phone, revealing the snakes in question.

"This is George and Martha. Say hello, you two." He introduced his companions.

Hello, you two. The snakes continued writhing around the antenna after he pulled it out.

"You two behave, or you're going on vibrate." He warned his snakes preemptively, knowing that his warning wasn't going to prove very useful, the two snakes seemed to take his warnings and threats as suggestions.

(The jogger didn't... to his ear.)

"Ok, that would not be... no." Rachel muttered. She didn't think she could have handled that part.

"You get used to it." Hermes shrugged, rolling his eyes fondly at the snakes in question when they just hissed at him.

("Yeah," the jogger... locate his package.)

"... Harsh." Somebody muttered.

Hermes shrugged with a sigh. "If I don't have a tracking number, then I can't help him. I have millions of packages to keep track of." He defended himself. Did he feel sorry for the guy? Sure. But he needed a tracking number.

Some of the gods looked at him in surprise, taking in his somewhat tired appearance (still, after a week of rest and relaxing) for the first time, while those who already knew were concerned.

"Isn't that um... Prometheus, right? The guy who gave humanity fire and was punished for it?" Piper asked, trying to remember the legend around him.

"That was a really jerk move, by the way." Percy added. Seriously, a punishment like that for giving people fire? How egotistical could the gods get?

"Pecking his liver? Poor guy." Rachel muttered, grimacing.

(... A gift to... those we deliver-)

"Hundreds." Hermes deadpanned. "Every day." He'd seen what was in the packages, and he could tell you for sure that they were not gifts to humankind. Some arrogant men sent pictures of themselves to various women and called them gifts to humankind.

(Oh, never mind... I gotta go.")

He's not going to like that. Martha warned him. Prometheus couldn't do much about it in his position, not compared to Demeter, but he could still make his displeasure known.

Hermes grunted. "I'll deal with it as it comes." He muttered unhappily, getting really tired of everybody taking it out on him, disregarding the fact that he had a system in place, and it wasn't his fault if there was a break in that system. Contrary to what they all seemed to think, he could not be everywhere at once.

"You let me know, I'll deal with him." Apollo promised, guessing what Hermes was thinking about. Hermes flashed him a small smile and kept reading.

(He hung up... on your phone.")

"Can you, just for once, focus on the parts that are important?" Clarisse asked Percy after facepalming.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, confused.

"Oh, I don't know. How about, 'Who are you?' or 'How did you get here?', or even 'What do you want with me?'" Clarisse said sarcastically. Those were the questions she would have been asking, not commenting on the snakes slithering around on the phone. Annabeth hid her smile in Percy's shoulder, knowing that she had been wondering that same thing for years.

Percy blinked at her, and then the other demigods when they made their agreement plain. "I thought the snakes were a very important question." He muttered. Sally sighed and shook her head fondly.

("What? Oh, they... inside my head.)

Hermes sighed.

"This is going to be an interesting conversation." Apollo snorted, smirking at Hermes. Those two snakes were forever driving Hermes crazy. But he also knew Hermes would never give them up or try to truly shut them up.

(Don't be sarcastic... all the real work.)

"Don't you two start!" Hermes said sharply, looking at George and Martha, clearly stopping the argument before it could start. "Honestly, the same old arguments for thousands of years, you would think they would have settled it by now." He muttered, rolling his eyes as he started to read again.

("Oh, let's not... gotten to relax.)

"I've been enjoying the last week." Hermes interrupted himself to inform the rest of the group. "I've had an entire week where I don't need to be somewhere else, and I haven't gotten a single phone call or email." He was almost giddy about it, too. He knew he was going to get just as restless as the demigods soon enough, but for now he was enjoying his break, especially since he'd gotten all his backlog dealt with already.

(Ever since the... his jogging shorts,)

"That's all you're worried about? Not who this is?"

"I was wondering that, too. But those snakes came out of nowhere." Percy defended himself.

(but I said, "Uh, I like Hercules.")

"What?" Most people demanded. His reactions earlier were enough for them all to know that to say he didn't care much for Hercules was an understatement. Zoe, for some reason, felt oddly betrayed by this.

"Wait for it." Percy held up a finger and motioned for Hermes to keep reading. He did with a snort after reading ahead a little bit.

"Oh, you'll like this one." He assured the Huntress.

("Why?"

"Well... me feel better.")

Zoe blinked, before she snorted and smirked. "Good reason." She complimented the boy, and then promptly ignored him.

Sally sighed while everyone else who knew anything about Hercules (the real Hercules) laughed.

"He deserves that one." Piper muttered.

(The jogger chuckled... and all that?")

"Of course not." Percy scoffed. "Especially now that I know more about him." He muttered, glancing at Zoe.

"Guy is a jerk." Piper grumbled.

"He was certainly interesting." Jason allowed, being diplomatic about it.

"Oh, you have no idea." Perseus laughed. They didn't know the guy personally, after all. Hercules used to be a good friend, then he let the fame and stuff go to his head.

"I think you might be a bigger legend then he ever was." Theseus told his younger half brother, smiling at the thought. Percy had fought and defeated opponents that Hercules never even went anywhere near. He'd fought and defeated opponents with relative ease that they had struggled against. And they were barely even in the second book.

Percy flushed red.

("No."

"You're an... so, what now?")

"Well if that isn't a loaded question." Artemis muttered.

"I don't think it's that loaded. Percy already knows what he's going to do, he just has yet to figure out how to do it." Sally shrugged, frowning.

"Maybe. But that's still a big question. There is a lot going on right now, a lot riding on what he does." Zoe said. Thalia nodded.

(I knew immediately... the Fleece?)

"What else are you going to do? You have to go." Nico said. "Nothing against you, Clarisse, I'm sure you did well on the quest. But Percy had more information then what he shared."

"Not to mention he's the only one who can tell you when you're starting to run out of time for Grover." Thalia commented. There was no way for any of them to tell when they were running out of time for her, from what she'd been told, nobody had any way of predicting or even tracking the poison's progress.

Some days it seemed to affect her tree and the valley more then other days.

(Before I could... on line two.)

"That didn't take long."

"Oh, I probably have at least fifty voicemails by now, just in the five minutes I've been sitting there. Who knows what my inbox looks like." Hermes sighed.

Your inbox is currently empty. Martha said helpfully.

For once. George added.

"I know, and I love it." Hermes was almost giddy about, too, and kept reading before anybody could comment.

("Not now," the... a message.")

"Excuse me?" Demeter demanded.

"I'm trying to have a serious conversation here that will decide the fate of Camp. I don't have time to answer the phone every two seconds." Hermes snapped. "So yes, you can leave a message." He went back to the book before she could start again, which he could tell she was clearly gearing up to do.

(She's not going... delivery division wilted.)

"Talk about petty." Connor muttered.

"Mother!" Katie and Persephone both complained, Persephone glaring at her mother in exasperation. "If he's busy, he's busy! Call back later." Katie continued.

"Thank you." Hermes said, waving a hand at Katie before glaring at Demeter and going back to reading, not giving the goddess time to protest or defend herself from the looks she was currently receiving.

Only a few people noticed the guilty look that passed over her face for a moment.

("Just tell her... are you, exactly?")

"Finally!" Most of the demigods burst out.

"Took you long enough to ask who this strange person was." Sally snorted, giving her son an unamused stare.

"Sorry, mom." Percy muttered after wincing at the look on her face.

("Haven't you guessed... full-size for months.)

Oh, please! Can we go full-size? Martha begged, eager to be able to stretch out a bit more. Hermes usually had them full-size for solstice meetings, but winter meetings were a hit or miss, considering how close it was to Christmas and the amount of last minute shopping people did and all the last minute packages that had to be sent out, not to mention all the holiday travel. He was usually on his phone sending texts or emails out to make sure everything kept running smoothly and nothing was lost in transit.

It's been so long! George joined in instead of turning it into an argument.

Hermes gave them an odd look for that, but held them out anyway. "Oh, very well." The phone glowed and stretched into his caduceus, with two snakes slithering happily along the shaft, stretching as best as they could when confined to a small area. They were immediately surrounded by Chris and the four Stoll brothers. Luke joined them after a moment, Jason following silently behind. Chris stayed by Clarisse, feeling like this was a safer spot for him to be once his own treachery was discovered.

(Don't listen to... to show off!)

As if you don't enjoy being full-size just as much! Martha scoffed.

"Don't start, or you'll go back to the phone and set on vibrate!" Hermes warned.

Who's going to call you to set it off? We're in a time-bubble, remember? George asked smugly.

Don't say that! Now he'll do it just to prove a point! Martha groaned. Hermes snorted in amusement and kept reading, neither confirming nor denying that. He wasn't going to say that his sons were enjoying themselves with petting the two snakes to actually do that right now.

(The man took... of Cabin Eleven.)

"If you don't get who this is now, then you really are hopeless." Clarisse snorted. Hopefully he recognized the caduceus, all the gods symbols of power were hanging over their cabins doorway, after all. Percy saw them all every day.

"I recognized it!" Percy defended himself.

(My throat tightened... I said. "Hermes.")

"You know, most people don't identify us as 'so-and-so's' father." Hermes said conversationally. "There's nothing wrong with it, of course, but that's not how most people recognize us." He caught the startled look on Luke's face at his second statement, and hid his frown. Luke truly believed he didn't care, it seemed like nothing he'd tried to talk to him about during the break got through to him.

"Eh." Ares grunted, not sure how he himself felt about being called 'Clarisse's dad', but figured it didn't sound too bad. She was strong, and powerful, she would do him proud he was sure.

"That's Percy for you." Annabeth smiled at him fondly. He was currently examining something Tyson wanted to show him and wasn't paying any attention to the reading or conversations.

(The god pursed his... wish to be kind.")

"'Wish to be kind'?" Sally repeated, amused.

"Yes, most people seem to think that being called the god of thieves to your face is an insult." Hermes shrugged, not understanding that one at all. All the council made a determined effort to not look at Ares.

(God of thieves works... likes me best.)

Hermes hand shot out and unerringly clamped over George's mouth, despite the reptile not using his mouth to speak with them.

Nevertheless, the symbolism behind the action and the warning glare on the gods' face was enough for him to not respond to book-Martha's taunt.

(He does not!

Does too!)

"Would you two act your ages for once?" Hermes groaned. They were each several thousand years old, and they acted like he'd seen toddler mortal children (and some adults, too for that matter) act.

That's boring! I'd rather have rats. George complained.

"What is with him and rats?" Percy asked quietly, he wasn't sure about that snake sometimes.

("Behave, you two,"... you on vibrate!)

"Does that threat actually work?" Connor asked his father. He'd already made it twice, just in the last five minutes.

Hermes shrugged. "Eh. For a bit." George and Martha hissed, but didn't comment.

(Now, Percy, you... permission to go.")

"Has that ever stopped you?"

"No." Annabeth and Sally answered for him while he pouted at them.

("No, indeed. Will... to save Grover.")

"And the camp. Saving the camp was also a priority." Percy cut in quickly. Honestly, though, at that moment that was Clarisse's job, no matter how much he'd doubted her abilities and lack of information at the time.

She didn't know about Grover's situation, which meant it was up to him to save his best friend.

(Hermes smiled... mere baby, really.")

"Are you seriously about to tell this story again?" Apollo deadpanned, having a feeling he knew what this was about.

"It's a good story!" Hermes defended himself and went to read again.

"You tell it far too often." Hera informed him with a glare. She didn't think she was ever going to be happy about his stealing, but supposed there was nothing to be done about it, it was one of his domain's after all. It would be like Zeus forbidding Dionysus from drinking, it was cruel and not a good idea.

(Here we go again... set on vibrate?)

"At least one of you takes me seriously." Hermes grumbled quietly while everyone else laughed a bit at the by-play between the two snakes.

"These two are awesome." Chris said to Luke, who snorted at his brother's comment.

The rest of the demigods just glanced at each other with the confirmation that this story was about Hermes. What was with immortals and telling stories about themselves as life-lessons? Tantalus had already done the same thing in this chapter.

(Hermes ignored them... tiny pieces?" I asked.)

"Oh, believe me, it was tempting." Apollo promised darkly.

"I apologized!" Hermes reminded him quickly, eyeing the look on his face suspiciously. "I even gave you your lyre and the cattle back." He reminded the other god, who sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I guess this is before you were the 'god of thieves'." Sally guessed. She would imagine that it would be difficult to catch somebody like Hermes if he didn't want to be caught. The council nodded their agreement, this was before his domains really 'presented' themselves, not that any of them had been surprised when thievery was one of them.

("Hmm... no. Actually... invented- a lyre.)

"Which led to him being the god of music!" Hermes cut in with a grin at Apollo.

"That was already... you know what? Forget it." Apollo shook his head, not feeling like getting into this argument again.

(Apollo was so... about being angry.")

"No..." Apollo said slowly. "I just decided to forgive it the once and punish you if you ever did it again." He corrected. "Especially since you also returned my cattle." If the cattle hadn't been returned, then Hermes probably would have been blasted to pieces.

"Aw, you know you love me!" Hermes teased. Apollo gave him a droll look, but didn't comment. (The demigods couldn't help but notice he didn't deny it at least.)

("So what's the... have a moral?")

"It could." Percy shrugged.

"As a writer, I've found that all stories have a lesson in them, real or fable." Sally said with a small smile.

("Um..."

"How about... not always bad?")

"You will not teach my son to steal!" Sally warned Hermes, who gulped at the look on her face.

Honestly, it was bad enough that it was sometimes a necessity for survival on quests without Hermes getting him into it all the time!

"Agreed!" All the parents in the room stated sternly, talking about their own children.

The demigods in question glanced at each other, knowing how true Hermes' statement really was. Chiron observed his students and sighed, shaking his head. All he could do was teach them restraint and the value of knowing when it was absolutely needed and when it wasn't.

("I don't think... that moral.")

"No she would not." Sally stated, still glaring at Hermes sternly.

He winced and kept reading.

(Rats are delicious, suggested George.)

"What does that have to do with anything?" Persephone asked, confused.

"He's probably hungry." Travis defended the reptile. Hermes and Percy nodded in agreement while the rest of the boys voiced theirs.

"Boys." Katie muttered to Reyna, who stifled a laugh.

(What does that... But I'm hungry.)

Speaking of... George hinted while a few of the boys cheered in triumph at being right.

Hermes sighed. "You're always hungry." He muttered, but he gave the snakes a rat, anyway. It wasn't like he starved them, either. He was fairly certain George ate more then he did most days.

The girls made noises of disgust at seeing the rats, but said and did nothing else. They were demigods, they came across far more disgusting things then that.

("I've got it," Hermes... How's that?")

"In other words, disobedience for the right reasons." Sally said, raising an eyebrow.

Hermes tilted his head. "Yes..." He said, wondering if he would have the mother angry with him again.

She glanced at the demigods and sighed. "Good advice." She said, and sat back, to his surprise. But then, he really shouldn't have been, this was Sally after all. Percy got it from somewhere. And it wasn't just his father.

("You're saying... without permission.")

"Of course he's the one encouraging this." Zeus muttered. Hermes had already been his more rebellious child, after all. He was just harder to catch at it.

Hermes smirked.

"Technically, I think Hermes is giving you permission to go, actually." Thalia said, tilting her head to the side. "So..."

"You know Tantalus isn't going to see it that way, assuming Percy even tells them about this conversation when he gets back." Nico pointed out. She shrugged.

(Hermes's eyes... package, please?")

"Package? What are you up to?" Zeus asked suspiciously.

Hermes shrugged. "I imagine I am helping them along on their quest." He said cheerfully, liking the thought and hoping that they got a chance to at least talk to Luke, for all the good it seemed it would have done.

"Interference with a quest! Interference with mortals!" Zeus barked, rising to his feet.

Hermes sighed and rolled his eyes. "How is giving a bit of advice and some items interference? Besides, you should be glad that I am as, if I'm right in what I'm giving him, it will increase their chances of coming back alive and with the Fleece that will save your daughter." He shot back, narrowing his eyes at his father, who slowly back down again (mostly at Hera's forceful urging).

"Hermes is doing nothing wrong in this instance." Hestia said quietly, eyeing her brother sternly before she turned to her nephew. "Please keep reading." She requested.

(Martha opened her... a black plastic top.)

"Isn't that...?" Apollo asked, looking at him curiously. Hermes had told him he had the four winds, and that he kept them in that old thermos.

"Sounds like." Hermes said, and kept reading before anybody could ask what Apollo was talking about.

(The sides of the... three-headed dog.)

Zoe narrowed her eyes and growled softly. She knew she missed one.

Hermes shot her a smug grin that she glared at.

"How is that supposed to help them on their quest?" Aphrodite deadpanned, starting to wonder about Hermes.

"Just wait for it." He shot her the same smug grin.

("That's Hercules," I said.)

"How did you recognize that?" Thalia asked, she didn't remember when he would have seen a picture of Hercules anywhere, there weren't any in camp. (A fact she now knew could be attributed to Zoe, because there were pictures in the Big House of Theseus and Perseus, as well as a few others.)

"The lion. Isn't he the only one to have killed the Nemean Lion?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Impressive, you knew something without Annabeth telling you." Nico teased. Percy glared at the insinuation while others laughed.

("But how-"

"Never question...

"Hercules Busts Heads?")

"Good show. Why did it cancel again?" Amphitrite asked, not remembering if she'd heard the reason or not. She was fairly sure, though, that the Disney animation came out shortly afterward, for some reason. It was probably some demigod's version of protesting.

"Hercules was being... difficult, which halted production. And then Aphrodite got into reality TV." Basically Aphrodite had nagged and pushed the ones in charge of programming enough that reality TV was all that was aired anymore. Most gods didn't even watch Hephaestus-TV anymore, they preferred mortal television programming, mostly because there was much more variety.

"Ah..." Amphitrite muttered, glancing at Aphrodite, who looked unbothered by all this.

("Great show." Hermes... whole lunch box-")

Zoe cleared her throat and glanced away, her turn to be smug.

"Yes, if it hadn't been used as target practice." Hermes expanded on his book-self's comment. She just grinned at him.

"The reason the collectibles from that show are so rare is because a certain Huntress and her group destroyed much of the items, both while the show still aired and after its cancellation, which of course cancelled production of it's merchandise." Apollo explained. The first season ones were even more rare because the Huntresses had more time to find them.

"Can't you just... magic more up?" Percy asked, somewhat confused on that.

"Ask Hecate, or any of her children, magic has it's limits, even for us. In fact, perhaps especially for us since we so rarely, if ever, use any magic that doesn't have to do with our domains, you could almost say we lost the ability through disuse. Hazel nodded her agreement, but didn't comment, not wanting to give away more about herself then they already had.

(Or if it hadn't... George added.)

Why you! Martha started chasing him around, knocking the gentle hands of her master's sons off her head as she did.

"Hey, knock it off you two, before you get knotted!" Hermes quickly stepped in, physically grabbing each snake firmly. "Honestly." He grumbled with a sigh after they were settled down.

(I'll get you for that... "This is a gift?")

"Why sound so surprised?" Hermes asked, blinking at him.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Most people don't just walk up to you, ask you what you're going to do about a quest that you're not even allowed to go on, and then give you things before you even tell them your decision." He deadpanned.

"Well, maybe they should." Hermes sulked a bit before he kept reading.

("One of two," Hermes... hot on the other.)

"Huh. Northern winds are cold, southern ones are hot." Percy muttered, just now realizing why that was the way it was.

"Exactly!" Hermes nodded at him before turning back to the book, ignoring the suspicious looks and a few dawning realizations.

(The weird thing... compass!" I said.)

"That's a strange compass." Reyna commented. If you wanted a compass, then why not get an actual compass, why enchant (or whatever this was) a thermos?

Hermes looked just as surprised as he had that day. "Huh. I never even considered that." He muttered, then snorted when he read the next line to himself, only to look up to find Percy smirking at him.

"Just what did you do to that?" Hera questioned, curious despite herself.

"You'll see in a few moments." Hermes said quickly before he kept reading. Technically he shouldn't even have those winds, after all.

(Hermes looked... on your way.)

"You should not have those." Zeus deadpanned, shifting his glare from Luke to Hermes.

Hermes looked up and grinned mischievously. "There is a lot that I shouldn't have." He said mysteriously, and left it at that.

(Not now! And... the lid a tiny bit.)

Percy cleared his throat and looked at Annabeth pointedly.

"I said I was sorry!" She protested. "I didn't know about that, anyway!"

"Oh, dear." Athena murmured, easily able to imagine how explosive that would have been.

Clarisse eyed the two. "Is that what that was?" She muttered.

(The winds are a... around the pole.)

Hermes sighed, but didn't say anything, choosing to instead read the next line while staring deadpanned at the snakes. The snakes hissed quietly, but didn't say anything under his stern glare.

("She's always... get knotted again!")

"Are they always like this?" Annabeth asked, eyeing the snakes. They were acting almost exactly like what was being read about. If she didn't know any better, she would say that they'd snuck a look at this chapter beforehand and were now just acting it out instead of just reading. And Hermes' reactions were telling as well.

"Yes." Hermes said before he kept reading.

(The snakes stopped... with chewable vitamins.)

"Oh, that's what happened." Reyna said. She'd heard all about those vitamins. She got a few strange looks, but didn't explain anything.

Hermes glanced at her. "I recognize you now." He said. She'd been the background during a few arguments he'd had with Circe the week before coming here.

("You're kidding,"... Minotaur-shaped?")

"Yup! They're all shaped like various monsters. For some reason kids are more willing to take them if it's fun shaped." Hermes grinned and shrugged before going back to his reading, glad now that he hadn't said anything about their flavor, he didn't like repeating himself all the time like he had been during the conversation bits with George and Martha.

Annabeth blinked. "I didn't even notice." She muttered.

"You had other things to worry about." Percy assured her. Like figuring out which one was him and getting out of there.

(Hermes picked up... are they hydras?)

"Are you joking?" Hades asked quietly and dangerously. Was he implying that they were hideous? (They kind of were, but that wasn't the point.)

"Er... I honestly forget which ones are which. I can tell by looking at them, though." Hermes defended himself nervously before the Lord of the Underworld could get himself worked up on his Chief Torturer's behalf. "It's very easy to tell them apart by looking."

Hades narrowed his eyes, but looked away when Persephone tugged his arm with an eyeroll.

(At any rate... really need it.")

"What would happen otherwise?" Will tilted his head curiously. He'd never heard of this.

"Too much of a good thing can often be extremely bad." Hermes said cryptically, both he and Apollo eyeing the young Healer.

He bit his lip, but slowly nodded as he understood. Too much of a vitamin or mineral could be detrimental to a person's health, no matter how good those vitamins and minerals were for the body, or how needed they were. If these were really as potent as Hermes claimed, then... And he was sure that there was more to them then just being extremely strong vitamin chews. This also implied that it wouldn't be like an overdose of Ambrosia or Nectar, which was never good.

("How will I know... feel yourself again.")

"In a very literal way." Percy muttered with a shudder. Reyna caught it and smirked briefly before turning her attention back to Hermes' reading.

(He tossed me the bottle.)

"Do you still have them?" Hermes asked, curious.

"Huh, uh... yeah. I still have some left." Percy said, considering that for a moment. Annabeth didn't dump the entire thing in the cage, after all, just enough for Percy to not have to fight off the other Guinea-pigs for one.

"Good. Keep them in your travel bag." Apollo advised, knowing just how valuable and potent those vitamins Hermes came up were. He may be the god of medicine, but the medical symbol was Hermes' caduceus for a reason.

"I do." Percy assured him. Poseidon visibly relaxed at that reassurance.

("Um, thanks," I... you helping me?")

"Wow, that was respectful." A few murmured. Percy wasn't known for it, after all. He certainly hadn't been speaking with them like that while here.

"I can be respectful." Percy grumbled. When it was somebody he felt deserved it, went unsaid.

(He gave me a... don't mean... Luke?")

Luke sneered while Luke looked down and his hand on George's head stilled.

Neither one said a word, though.

(Hermes didn't answer... Luke can't be saved.)

Luke looked away, not looking at anybody.

"I tried, and got a handful of poison for my efforts." Percy grumbled. "And stabbed, multiple times. And... other things." He knew that the rest of it would be in the books.

"I was still too angry to be talked out of it." Luke finally said. "And any mention of you only made things worse." He glanced at Hermes before looking away again.

Hermes was silent for a moment. "I can't believe that there is no chance." He finally said, and kept reading. He couldn't. Like he told Percy (he read ahead slightly), you can't give up on family.

(Even if I could... hates you especially.")

"That's an understatement for how I felt at the time." Luke snorted quietly. Luke just sneered some more, but he was silenced before he could say anything.

Nobody wanted to risk him saying something and further inflaming Zeus's already inflamed temper. Lightening was arcing off his skin, much like it did Thalia when Percy had done something particularly stupid. He had not reacted well to the reminder that Luke's end goal was destroying Olympus.

(Hermes gazed up... they make it.)

"And believe me. It has been made tempting over the years." Hermes added, rolling his eyes. There were some days he honestly wondered why he stuck around, mostly after a particularly stupid action by Zeus.

"Family is the most important thing in any case." Hestia said, smiling proudly at Hermes for the nugget of wisdom he'd just given Percy. "I'm glad one of you realizes that." Her expression changed to stern disappointment for the rest of her family, not all of whom she could say valued family as much as they should. (There was a reason why Hermes was her favorite nephew. Shh, don't tell the others.)

"That's where you learned that phrase from." Annabeth said softly, leaning against Percy. He'd said that a few times over the years, but never told her where he'd learned it from.

"Good advice." Sally added, smiling between Hermes and Hestia.

(It doesn't matter... inventing the Internet-")

"Are you still going on about that?" Artemis demanded, rolling her eyes at her half-brother.

"You laughed at me when I came up with it!" Hermes defended himself. "And look at what it is now." The internet had exploded beyond even his expectations for it.

"He invented the internet?" Katie asked Connor quietly. He smirked and nodded proudly. She raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

Artemis sighed. "... You're right. I'm sorry." She muttered. He blinked in shock, but grinned (genuinely) and went back to the book without making a fuss about her apology, that would only put her on the defensive.

("You invented the... George said.)

"Time and place, man." Connor told the snake, rolling his eyes.

Rats are delicious! George defended himself.

"That doesn't mean this is the place for it." Travis said bluntly.

("It was my idea!"...

"I- I'm not sure.")

"I do now." Percy said quietly, snaking an arm around Annabeth's waist and glancing at his mother and Paul.

"Good. That's good." Hermes said, satisfied. Hestia beamed at him, proud.

("You will some day."... discount ambrosia.)

Hermes sighed in irritation. "That sounds about right." He muttered, and kept reading before anybody else could comment.

Those who had never really thought about it before were shocked. He'd only been sitting there for a few minutes, and already had all that to deal with?

"Jeez, they do realize it's one in the morning, right?" Beckendorf muttered.

"We don't need to sleep much." Hephaestus overheard him and shrugged.

"How many ads were there?" Rachel asked curiously.

"They probably compose at least half of my inbox contents." Hermes sighed tiredly just thinking about sorting through the mess. "Why they think I need a few thousand emails about the same exact thing within five minutes, I will never know."

Apollo bit his lip, but didn't say anything. He did make a mental note to stop sending the ads to Hermes, though.

("And you, Percy,"... complete your quest.)

"Is he talking about the tree? Or did he catch wind of what Luke was attempting?" Annabeth asked thoughtfully.

"I think he was talking about the tree." Percy shrugged. His son was the god of nature, after all. Pan had to have gotten at least some of it from him.

(Your friends... about... now.")

"Wait, what?"

"What's he talking about?"

"You haven't even agreed to go anywhere!" The demigods voiced, confused about what Hermes meant by that.

"I think it's safe to say that I knew Percy would be going." Hermes said dryly. "And as my book-self said, he has less time then they think they do, therefore he did not have time to keep sitting there thinking." He pointed out.

(I heard Annabeth's... bit further away.)

"What are they doing up?"

"What were guys doing there?" Thalia asked the two curiously.

"Something woke me up and told me to go find Percy near the beach." Annabeth shrugged. After she'd had a chance to wake up and think about it, it was similar to when Athena guided her towards Luke and Thalia when she was younger.

"There was a voice, saying Percy was in danger." Tyson said simply.

"I think they explained that to me when I asked." Percy cut in, amused. Thalia shrugged.

("I hope I packed... with travel.")

There were some snorts. "That's a bit of an understatement." Apollo rolled his eyes.

Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other with smirks. "Even split-second trips at the last minute." Percy said cheerfully. Ok, so Hermes had some heads up for the trip to Paris, but he'd still made that an amazing trip.

Hermes shrugged, pleased with himself, even if he was curious about Percy's statement.

(He snapped his... you reach the ship.")

"Of course I will... What ship?" Poseidon said immediately before frowning in confusion about where the ship came from. He would happily give Percy a ship if he asked, but it sounded like there was already a ship nearby?

"What ship is he talking about?" Nico asked, eyeing Luke suspiciously. Luke frowned, glancing at Percy and wondering...

"I don't think you would have needed to waterproof them, he is a son of Poseidon." Amphitrite muttered with an eyeroll. Hermes shrugged.

("Ship?"

Hermes pointed... the dark water.)

"That's when you came aboard." Luke realized. He'd wondered where they came from. To be honest, he hadn't even known they were aboard until they were shoved into his room by the Brothers. "And why." He scowled at Percy, who shrugged.

"I didn't know it was your ship 'till we woke up."

"I'm sending them straight to Luke?" Hermes questioned quietly. This could either be good, or very very bad.

"Why are you sending them to a traitor's ship? This quest is too important for them to be captured!" Zeus exclaimed.

"Hey!" Annabeth and Percy protested, taking it as a slight to their abilities.

("Wait," I said... agreed to go!")

"Why are you still protesting about whether or not you're going? We all know you are." Rachel said, confused.

"Yeah, honestly I'm surprised your actually still at camp at this point." Nico shrugged.

Percy sighed. "... I don't know. A part of me had already decided to go, but another part didn't want to leave Tyson behind to deal with Tantalus and the others alone, since I didn't want to take him with me where he could get hurt." He finally said after a few minutes.

("I'd make up your... come to eat you.)

"They wouldn't really!" Percy quickly reminded his mother, who was incensed over the idea.

"Why do they keep making references to them eating campers, then?" She asked sternly.

"I don't know! They mention it a lot, but it's just a scare tactic, they don't actually eat any of us." Percy reasoned. It had only ever been talked about, never carried out that he knew of. There had been plenty of kids caught out of bed by the harpies, none of them had ever been eaten. Sally narrowed her eyes at Chiron, but didn't say anything else.

(Now, good night... a rat, George said.)

"I never did bring him that rat." Percy muttered to Annabeth, who stifled her laugh.

"I think we had other things to worry about." Clarisse declared, having overheard him.

"Like getting the Fleece and keeping it out of Luke's hands." Annabeth grinned at Luke who scowled.

(The caduceus changed... impossible decision.)

"You already decided to go, what were you really scared of?" Sally said quietly, knowing that his earlier explanations weren't everything. Percy shrugged but said nothing.

"That was the chapter." Hermes said, closing the book but leaving his finger in the pages to mark the spot. "Who wants it next?"

"I'll read!" Rachel volunteered.

"Didn't you already read today?" Annabeth cut in. "Why don't we let Luke read? He hasn't read at all yet, and this might be a good chapter for him." She gave him a Look.

"Er, are you sure this is a good idea?" Percy muttered. He was pretty sure the last thing Luke needed right now was getting and keeping Zeus's attention on him, especially in a chapter where he was likely to be front and center, anyway, if he was thinking correctly about what was next.

"It'll be fine!" Annabeth assured him while the Seven glanced at each other uneasily. Nevertheless, three of them surrounded Luke while two stayed with Luke, and the others were off to the side watching everybody.

"Two more chapters, and then I think we should end for the night." Hestia announced after a moment's thought. They were going to need time to process these next two chapters, she thought, if she was reading Percy and Annabeth's faces correctly.

Luke slowly took the book, and swallowed at the chapter title, before reading out:

Chapter eight: We Board the Princess Andromeda

---

*I've never actually seen it, so I don't know how it really is, but the few films I've seen that were 'historical' to Greek mythology were pretty poorly written. And I figure anybody that was there for the events would find the movie to be historically inaccurate no matter how accurate they actually are.

I was informed via review that Annabeth's explanation of how the Fleece came to be was very historically/mythologically inaccurate. In doing a bit of research, she married two different myths together and came up with the story she told Percy.